under 21 footballers are out wednesday 15th and we are going to run off the under 21 paddys day... why has this to happen, 2 days rest for some lads?

st rynaghs and shamrocks down to play at 14:30 opposed to 11am to the other fixtures.. why is this?

division one games are fixed for 4:30 on Saturday.. ireland v england in the rugby at 5pm.. in the name of god would you not think people would wanna see this game?

can somebody answer who is making these fixtures and what taught 'if any' are been put into them? there is huge debate about county fixtures ruining club players and their schedule.. it seems you can throw our county board into it too..

Id say you'd never be happy Kaiserchief. I assume they are fixed for Friday because the country is off.Why are you worried about the rugby sure isn't that over......did England not win it? If games were fixed for Sunday you'd be complaining they clash with the vital Offaly Tipperary football match or mass or God knows. Put your name forward later in the year and get involved with the county board and implement change from within instead of bad mouthing those who do actually give up their time to run the show.

(1) The clubs have made it clear that they want the U21 championships played at this time of year. Personally I think it's madness, but it's what they want and with that parameter in place, there is really no good time to play the games. You talk of two day's rest for some lads - there is literally no time when you could give them any more. There are schools games to consider (Oaklands have an All Ireland final this Saturday too) you have the county team, there are mountains of things to factor in - so it's impossible to do any better here.

(2) In terms of times, I'm pretty confident that if both clubs agree to move a time and do so in advance, with the support of the appointed referee, there will be no issue. Chances are (though I can't say for sure) that if all the games bar one are for a certain time of the day, that one has been moved for a reason. I certainly can't imagine a situation where two clubs would say that a 2pm throw in is acceptable to them, but the fixtures secretary insists on Noon, or 5pm, or whatever.

(3) There are a huge amount of things to consider when fixing games, including the possibility of certain county players being available, or access to pitches, or underage games, the list goes on. Of course yes, in an ideal world you'd avoid a clash with a sporting counter-attraction, however this still should be a long way down the list of priorities. This isn't a championship game in the summer where you're hoping to get 1,000 people to pay a tenner to see the game - these are March league matches.

Also, Ireland vs England is now all but inconsequential from an Irish point of view. It's a big deal to rugby fans of course, but if you start saying that every rugby international has to be avoided, you're into murky country. What happens then - should we have no games on Friday because of the Cheltenham Gold Cup? No games in late July because of the Galway Races? No clashing with the now annual friendly game between the Republic of Ireland and Oman? If this was a Grand Slam decider, then maybe you'd have a point, but this is a dead rubber for Ireland now, I can't see any huge level of interest in it from the general public.

Kevin Egan. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.

I bet if it was the mighty green and white of Ballyfore that the game wouldn't be played at 4:30 that it would be at 3 o clock. Loneshark it is a grand slam game. England are going for it and a record, the same way New Zealand were and I bet ye were all on the bandwagon for that. Games at 4:30 could be easily played at 3.

As for the under 21, its a disgrace. The clubs shouldn't have the final decision. People are always discussing player wellbeing and development and then the county board turn around and fix u21 hurling championship two days after some of these lads are playing under 21 football for their county. I bet if they win on Wednesday (which I think they will), any lad playing hurling paddys day will be asked to sit it out cause the final is two weeks later.

Very easy to blame a single person for fixtures issues, people shouldn't offer opinions when they don't know the facts, loneshark has covered a lot of them. I'm not pro County board but am aware of a lot of the issues when doing fixtures and right now the biggest issue in this county is the lack of refs to cover all games, I know clubs who agreed to change games to another date and time this weekend but could not do so because of no refs. Solve that one for the fixtures committee.

kaiserchief wrote:I bet if it was the mighty green and white of Ballyfore that the game wouldn't be played at 4:30 that it would be at 3 o clock. Loneshark it is a grand slam game. England are going for it and a record, the same way New Zealand were and I bet ye were all on the bandwagon for that. Games at 4:30 could be easily played at 3.

Again I'll say that if the two clubs wanted to move the time, and the referee was amenable, it would be done. It's nothing to do with what clubs are involved. Also, it is a grand slam game FOR ENGLAND. For Irish Rugby it determines where we finish on the table, probably either third or fourth - be still my beating heart.

kaiserchief wrote:As for the under 21, its a disgrace. The clubs shouldn't have the final decision. People are always discussing player wellbeing and development and then the county board turn around and fix u21 hurling championship two days after some of these lads are playing under 21 football for their county. I bet if they win on Wednesday (which I think they will), any lad playing hurling paddys day will be asked to sit it out cause the final is two weeks later.

The GAA is still a democracy, you can't say that clubs shouldn't have the final decision. Again I say that I think it's daft, November would make far more sense, but that's what they want, so that's what the Fixtures committee have to work with.

Kevin Egan. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.